On 03-01-2014 Ftrooppilot wrote:

“I believe it's a mistake to think that ALL separating or retiring military pilots want to fly for the airlines - especially those retiring who have probably been in staff/management positions for ten years. When I retired it was a choice of JR FO at a major airline or a management position paying twice what I made in the USAF. No contest plus I was home every night.

The military (USAF/USN joint programs) train about 1200 pilots a year and I expect that to decrease. Assuming 1200 leave the military each year and 1/3 of them have no desire to fly for the airlines, that leaves about 800 military pilots applying to the airlines. A certain portion of them will go cargo or executive.

... I Think when it all "settles down" there may be about 600-700 former military pilots available to the industry each year.“


That agrees with numbers I have seen recently with about 1,000 military hires into the big 6. Things may change in the future (just like former pilots that got furloughed and got out. A number of them are getting back in). It could be a higher percentage of military may decide to go the airline career than in the past, but we do not know.

One thing for certain, the military will be a minority of airline new hires during the coming decade. Current figures already bear that out and we have not even hit the big wave of retirements. YMMV